The original purpose of the ballet in Russia was to entertain
the royal court. The first ballet company was the Imperial School
of Ballet in St. Petersburg in the 1740s. The Ballets Russes
was a ballet company founded in the 1909 by Sergey Diaghilev, an enormously important
figure in the Russian ballet scene. Diaghilev and his Ballets
Russes' travels abroad profoundly influenced the development of
dance worldwide.[1]The
headquarters of his ballet company was located in Paris, France. A
protégé of Diaghilev, George Balanchine, founded the New York
City Ballet Company.

During the early 20th century, many Russian ballet dancers rose
to fame. Soviet ballet preserved the perfected 19th century
traditions,[2] and the
Soviet Union's choreography schools produced one internationally
famous star after another. The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow and the Mariinsky in
Saint Petersburg remain famous throughout the world.[3]

B

Balanchine was one of the XX century's foremost choreographers,
a balletmaster of the Ballets Russes in
France, co-founder and balletmaster of New York
City Ballet: his work created modern ballet, based on his deep
knowledge of classical forms and techniques.